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• WUFT News: Alachua County student competes in Scripps National Spelling Bee. “Martin made it through to the semifinals on Wednesday afternoon, where he spelled the word “molasse” incorrectly. He is the first Alachua County student to make it this far in the national competition, tying for 22nd place overall.”
• Mainstreet Daily News: Newberry receives comprehensive plan input. “City planners set up tables in the Newberry municipal building Tuesday and listened to citizen concerns and recommendations about the community’s growth plans.”
• Ocala Gazette: U.S. News “best” rankings come in for the Ocala-Marion metro area. “Of the 150 metro areas in the U.S. News’ Best Place to Live rankings, Ocala has climbed to No. 67 for 2023-24 after dropping from No. 58 in 2021-22 all the way to No. 91 in 2022-23.”
• WCJB: Possible charges underway in case of elderly woman who lost leg to dog mauling. “Her son reports she has given her official statement with the Putnam County Sheriffs Office. He believes charges could be on the way.”
• Associated Press: Fast start to jury selection at trial of ex-deputy accused of failing to confront Parkland shooter. “Jury selection in the groundbreaking trial of a former sheriff’s deputy charged with failing to confront the killer of 14 students and three staff members at a Florida high school five years ago got off to a speedy start Wednesday, with the preliminary round nearing its conclusion in just a few hours.”
• WTSP-Tampa Bay: Hillsborough County voter system breach exposes 58,000 people’s information. “Officials believe the unauthorized user accessed Hillsborough County voters’ social security or driver’s license numbers.”
• WLRN-Miami: North Miami Beach mayor voted illegally, says Miami-Dade State Attorney. “At the time he voted in North Miami Beach, DeFillipo was not a city resident because he had moved to a new home in Broward County, said Miami−Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle at a news conference in Miami.”
• WUSF-Tampa: Hundreds gather into the wee hours at a contentious Hernando County School Board meeting. “Removing a book from school libraries, classroom indoctrination, and the future of its superintendent were the main points of contention in a Hernando County School Board meeting Tuesday night that lasted over eight hours.”
• Florida Politics: Stricter insurer regulations signed into law by Gov. DeSantis. “Property insurers will be assessed larger fines for mishandling claims and state regulators will get more resources to investigate carriers’ handling of claims, especially after hurricanes, after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill imposing tighter rules on the industry.”
Read Related Also: Illinois' favorite NFL team? Bears up north, but lots of divided loyalties
• WUSF-Tampa: Florida lawmakers propose about $1 billion in land conservation for the next fiscal year. “Florida Forever would receive $100 million, another $100 million is earmarked for the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program, and $800 million would fund projects connecting the Ocala and Osceola National Forests.”
• NPR: 400 chunks of concrete may explain what caused a deadly building collapse in Florida. “Now the agency, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, has moved some 400 large chunks of steel-reinforced concrete along with other evidence to a larger space. There, teams using heavy equipment can begin removing and testing concrete cores and samples of the rebar.”
• Florida Politics: Cape Canaveral selected for new Space Force HQ. “Patrick Space Force Base in Cape Canaveral will house the new headquarters of the U.S. Space Force Training and Readiness Command (STARCOM), one of three intermediate-level field commands within the space service branch.”
• Politics: House approves the debt ceiling measure as the default deadline looms
• National: Actor Danny Masterson is found guilty of 2 out of 3 counts of rape in retrial
• National: Family of Aderrien Murry, 11-year-old shot by police, files federal lawsuit
• Health: California debates whether teens can get drug treatment without parental consent
• Health: Medical students aren’t showing up to class. What does that mean for future docs?
• World: Individual cigarettes in Canada will soon carry health warnings
• National: The Army is escalating one of its toughest battles: fighting mold
